BIRMINGHAM Panthers have been refused permission to move to Telford by the British Basketball League.

BIRMINGHAM Panthers have been refused permission to move to Telford by the British Basketball League.

So they are now trying to strike a deal to play their home games at the Walsall campus of Black Country University, just off The Broadway.

Panthers took the controversial decision to up root and relocate just days before their scheduled opening BBL game in the city on Saturday.

As the Aston Event Centre looks set to shut down and the cost of staging games at Nechells Community Sports Centre was deemed too expensive, Panthers decided to look further afield.

The plan was to play home games in Telford to see them through at least this season but train and maintain their development programme in Birmingham.

Chief executive Herman Wilson thought that the BBL would have no choice to be anything but sympathetic to their plight at such a late stage, but they stood firm and insisted that the Birmingham franchise must stay in Birmingham, or at least the greater Birmingham area.

So, in the latest twist in the farce, the student facility has now been earmarked, which means Panthers will have to call in a favour from ex-Birmingham Bullets star Tony Simms.

His Black Country University of Wolverhampton side play there and begin the EBL season in the Patrons Cup against Newi Nets on Saturday, when Panthers are due to host Leicester Riders.

It could be that double headers end up being staged on nights that the two teams have fixtures.

Panthers assistant coach and another ex-Bullet legend, Clive Allen, has been in negotiation with his close friend Simms and University officials to try and help spare the new franchise's blushes.

Birmingham Sports Centre, Highgate, is another facility that has been considered by Panthers.

Panthers had intended to play at Nechells after the Aston Event Centre was declared unfit for purpose.

But the Rupert Street site was not designed to host such sporting events and the cost of temporary seating would have been around £4,000-a-game.